We used to run games weekly several years ago, but I found it became a little too much at the time, partly because I was the only one arranging and overseeing the games and partly because I was on much higher doses of opiate medication
Recently I arranged some games to remember my old friend pavid (David) who passed away last May following chemotherapy. I sent messages to all those that used to play with David (at least as many as I could remember), to see if they were interested and got several responses. The Steam giveaway group has grown slowly since those early days, but it has been dormant for far too long. We used to have about 16 members initially; which, over the period we ran servers, grew to around 30 plus members. It's slowly grown to 116 members over the intervening six years (2008 to present).
With the advent of the indie bundle phenomena there has been several other game giveaway groups formed, but these are not related to our group, which only deals with game giveaways from this site; though I and a couple of other members (including pavid) did give away spare Steam games that we got through pre ordering games. I suspect some of these newer members assumed it would be like those other groups who rely on the generosity of members to give away steam codes from the indie game bundles.
The images and videos I’ve posted below are just some random examples of games that I’m hoping we will be playing during our bi-weekly sessions. There are some games that will be played on a regular basis, some rarely; the decision as to which games to play will be a group decision.
The next game session will be Tuesday 2nd September starting at 9.30pm (GMT)/ 4.30pm Eastern time/ 1.30 pm Pacific time), going on till everyone has had enough. (We tend to play for between 2 to 4 hours depending on what game/s we play and who is playing. there is no set amount any one player must play. you can drop in for as long as you want to, even if it's only to chat, or to play for a few moments, it's all up to each individual player. :)
Ace of Spades
You can see gameplay video of Ace of Spades HERE
7 Days to Die (or RUST)
You can see gameplay video of RUST HERE
I have hundreds of spare Steam keys (probably over a thousand), most of which are from these bundles. I’ve been collecting them since the very first humble bundle and have already given away around 400 steam keys/games over the last few years (most of them to one of the Steam giveaway groups). I may consider at times giving prizes to those that play, for example if we play a team Half Life 2: Deathmatch. The winning team may get a game each, but I'm not guaranteeing that; it’s just a though at the moment. I'm sure the possibility of getting some free games by playing something you enjoy could be a good incentive to play. I have so many duplicates of some games that even if I gave both my children and my back up Steam account most of the keys, I’d still have loads to give away. I won't say when games will be given as I've done that in the past and suddenly find loads of new community members I've never seen before appear, then, when they have been given a game, disappear never to be seen again. Games I decide to give away, will be announced at the end of a game, and will be given for various reasons, for example: being courteous, saving team mates even though you sacrifice yourself, and even for winning sometime, (that said, I don't want to actively encourage winning as the whole point of these games is for community members who find it daunting when playing online, to enjoy themselves and not feel like they have to score points. None of the people I have played with take the games seriously, and we are all basically newbie’s at playing most games online.
The plan is to run a couple of games each week, the times to be arranged when we play. I will post details in this thread and if possible set reminders via the game giveaway Steam group. If you are a member you will then get one of those pop ups if you are signed into your steam account to say that a game will be starting within a few minutes.
ArmA 3 (or ArmA II and both Operation Flaspoint games)
You can see gameplay video of ArmA 3 HERE
Battlefield 4 (or 2, Bad Company and 3)
You can see gameplay video of Battlefield 4 HERE
We plan to play loads of different Co-op based games such as Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, Sanctum 2, Torchlight II, ArmA II & 3, some of the Resident Evil games, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, Rust, 7 Days to Die; with a few multiplayer games like Half life 2 Deathmatch, Unreal Tournament 3 & 2004, Ace of Spades etc. It’s really up to those who want to play. We will discuss what game we will play in the next session, but that can be changed if requested and agreed by those who are playing that session.
To join the gamegiveaway group, log into your Steam account and go to THIS page to join the group, alternatively you can PM me or post in this thread your Steam name and/or Steam profile link and I’ll send you an invite to join the group. Once I’ve done that I’ll delete your details from the thread.
Tom Clancy's: HawX II
You can see game play video of Tom Clancy's: HawX II HERE
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
You can see game play video of Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days HERE
There’s no obligation to play, even when you’ve said you are going to. I know from experience that from one day to the next my moods can change and I may not be in the mood to play. If you ever feel like that, don’t play, no one will think any worse of you. However, if you can, please message me so that if necessary I can inform others that we may have a game change. (Some games, for example Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days requires 4 players to play coop, if one drops out you can’t play it, so we’d have to change the game). No worries if you can’t for some reason, though please contact me. (You can send Steam PM’s even when I’m offline; I always check to see if anyone has left me a message. Just a quick note to say you can’t play on that particular evening. No need to give a reason, though you could suggest an alternative time and date that you’d like to play if you wanted. We can always change the meeting if necessary (probably dependant on how many wanted to play that particular day. If only three or four were going to play, I’m sure we would all be amenable to change the day and time..
I hope the above makes sense and that I haven’t bored you all. You should have seen what I originally wrote. It was several times longer and had a list of about 40 games that I’d like us to play over the coming months. (by the way, Steam lists 319 co-op games in the action genre, 108 co-op games in the RPG genre, 13 co-op racing games, 15 co-op sports games, 122 co-op strategy games, 57 co-op simulation games, though there’s some cross over between the genres), I lost the whole post after clicking something and and couldn’t recover it (using an old version of word for windows from 2003.
There’s also games from other platforms such as Origin that I’d like us to consider, such as Battlefield 3 and 4. I’m open to suggestions.
:)
Sanctum 2
You can see game play video of Sanctum 2 HERE
Unreal Tournament 3
You can see game play video of Unreal Tournament 3 HERE
Left 4 Dead 2 custom map The Bloody Moors
You can see game play video of Left 4 Dead 2 HERE
Torchlight II
You can see game play video of Torchlight II HERE
Rome Total War 2 (or Shogun 2, or Empire or Medieval II)
You can see game play video of Rome Total War 2 HERE
Sid Meiers Civilization V (or IV)
You can see game play video of Sid Meiers Civilization V HERE
